Acrylate-coated fiber structures and food casings made therefrom are already known (for example from DE 31 47 519 A1 or from DE 37 04 563 C2). In the production thereof, for example a loop-formingly knitted fabric, a laid scrim or a light nonwoven is introduced into an acrylate layer. The flat material can comprise natural fibers (such as cotton, linen or wool), modified natural fibers (for example regenerated cellulose or cellulose esters), fully synthetic chemical fibers (for example polyamide, polyester, polypropylene or polyacrylonitrile) or mixtures thereof. The laminate formed in this manner is dried and cut into strips of appropriate width. The strips are shaped to form food casings and glued or welded together at the edges. In the finished food casings the acrylate layer generally forms the outside. Flat materials of low strength may also be processed, which cannot be directly coated, if they are laid into an acrylate resin layer. The coated flat material can also comprise a plurality of acrylate layers. However, casings coated with acrylate alone, mostly have too low a sausage emulsion adhesion, ie. between sausage emulsion surface and the inside of the casing, what is termed a gel deposit can form. In addition, they are not very supple and generally also have insufficient permeation.
The object was therefore to provide a food casing which may be prepared simply and inexpensively and is permeable to smoke components. The casing must be suitable, in particular, for sausage varieties which, as slicer ware, are frequently traded in a vacuum packaging and in which the casing is already removed again. Scalded-emulsion sausage is mostly offered in this form. The casing is therefore only of importance for the duration of production. During this time it must ensure the shape of the final product and avoid weight loss due to drying out. In addition, the casing must be supple in order that it may be processed readily, have sufficient adhesion to the food and be able to be peeled off readily. In addition,—in accordance with the food to be packaged—it must have sufficient permeation. Finally, the casing must also be able to be shirred to form what are termed shirred sticks, so that it can be processed on high-speed automatic stuffing machines.